FULL RACE: Port Townsend to Ketchikan
Team name: Team Coastal Express
Team captain: Heather Drugge and Dan Campbell
Total Crew: 2
Race vessel: 16? Mirror dinghy
While we are more than a little bit proud about our completely original idea to start a race that’s getting people into small boats and going up the Inside Passage, we’re going to let you in on a secret: other than a starting gun, a finish line and a set of ambiguous “rules”, this is not an original idea- like, at all. Engineless adventurers have been plying these waters since time began, and every year a few people cruise the inside on boats that make you say- “What?” like you were Lil John.
Team Coastal Express is one of these examples that reminds us how absolutely unoriginal we are. TCE has already proven their mettle against the wilds of the Inside Passage. Over the past 10 years they’ve sailed 11’ Mirror dinghies all over BC’s north coast, from Prince Rupert south.
In case you aren’t up on the math of that equation, that’s hundreds of miles of sailing on 11 feet of boat.
Here’s the part where we all say “What?” Lil John style. (seriously, try it. It’s pretty fun)
It’s true, a link to a youtube slide show of one of the trips is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNDdkEIOnls. It shows all of the scenery, rain, repairs and is the only video we have ever watched starring a stuffed pig.
Older, wiser, and revved up by the thought of a race, they grabbed the big boat in their arsenal (16 feet). Unable to convince a third crew member to share the singular desire to embrace such a cramped cold reality, they signed up.
Welcome aboard Team Coastal Express- to borrow another sutra from the book of Lil John: Let’s go